Tenuta di Biserno

Marchese Lodovico Antinori was actually looking for a piece of land to expand his world-famous Tenuta dell’Ornellaia. What he found was a terroir all of its own, much hillier and stonier than that of Ornellaia, similar to Saint-Émilion or Pomerol. So he answered the land’s beckoning call and founded a separate winery here: Tenuta di Biserno. The amazing thing is: he wasn’t doing this alone, but together with his brother Piero, from whom he had long been separated. A «historic turning point», as the two describe it themselves.

Since 2001, the brothers have been planting classic Bordeaux varieties on the 49 hectares of land overlooking the village of Bolgheri and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Each grapevine yields just one bottle of wine. And what a wine it is! The Biserno is soft and generous like Tuscany and at the same time noble and full of finesse like the French wines that inspired it. These are joined by wines such as the Insoglio del Cinghiale – the original with wild boar, often copied – or the Il Pino, which achieves an impressive quality score year after year.

The young generation’s turn

Niccolo Marzichi Lenzi, Lodovico Antinori’s nephew, has been in charge of the business since 2014, bringing his own personal touch. 

The Marchesi Antinori have an infallible nose for quality terroirs. And they follow that nose – even when it points overseas. This was the case for Lodovico Antinori, a lover of fresh, vibrant white wines. In search of a place for such a «cool climate» wine, he ended up on the other side of the world: in New Zealand. There, in Marlborough, he acquired 13 hectares of vines near the Pacific coast together with his brother Piero.

Mineral-rich soils, a cool sea breeze, barely more than 24 degrees in summer and yet more sun than anywhere else in New Zealand – this all makes the region an ideal home for the Sauvignon blanc grape variety. The intensity of UV radiation «down under» teases an incomparable wealth of flavours out of the wine. The estate and the wines are looked after by the Swedish oenologist Helena Lindberg. She skilfully differentiates the crisp Mount Nelson and the complex, wood-aged Ram’s Hill with plenty of body and creaminess.